Attorney General Nominee’s Cannabis Enforcement Pledge Now Set in Stone

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]L[/dropcap]ast month, William Barr pledged that he was going to go easy on cannabis companies that adhere to state laws.  He has been answering a myriad of questions from Senators since, so to put an end to it all, Barr is finally putting the pledge on paper in a recent letter to a handful of lawmakers. Barr also proposed to expand the number of institutions that are allowed to grow cannabis to be used in scientific research.

“As discussed at my hearing, I do not intend to go after parties who have complied with state law in reliance on the Cole Memorandum,” Barr wrote. Barr offered responses to multiple lawmakers.  “I have not closely considered or determined whether further administrative guidance would be appropriate following the Cole Memorandum and the January 2018 memorandum from Attorney General Sessions, or what such guidance might look like,” he wrote in response to a question from Sen. Cory Booker . “If confirmed, I will give the matter careful consideration.”

Barr also mentioned the discrepancy between state and federal cannabis laws and urged the Congress to address this growing gap. “I still believe that the legislative process, rather than administrative guidance, is ultimately the right way to resolve whether and how to legalize marijuana,” he wrote in response to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s questions.

Despite his stance on cannabis, he criticized policy orders such as the Cole Memo and challenged the concept of legalization in general. “An approach based solely on executive discretion fails to provide the certainty and predictability that regulated parties deserve and threatens to undermine the rule of law,” Barr wrote in response to Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “If confirmed, I can commit to working with the Committee and the rest of Congress on these issues, including any specific legislative proposals. As I have said, however, I do not support the wholesale legalization of marijuana.”

Leaders in the cannabis community responded to the comments with enthusiasm. “After decades of failed drug war, it’s difficult to grasp the progress we’ve made in just the past couple of years. From a hawkish attorney general who sent a chill through the industry and threatened to escalate enforcement to a nominee who put his hands-off federalist approach to prohibition in writing,” said Don Murphy, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project. “William Barr didn’t just wave the white flag, he signed a peace agreement.”